Marin Snapshot: Former Marin teacher reflects on life ahead as she nears 100

On Nov. 5, Frances Parks of San Anselmo will celebrate her 100th birthday. Parks worked as a teacher and counselor in Marin schools for 35 years, first at Tamalpais Union High, from 1944 to 1951 and then at Sir Francis Drake High, until her retirement in 1979. Parks was born in Newnan, Georgia, where her father's family owned a 1,000-acre cotton farm and racetrack. She earned her master's degree in history from the University of California at Berkeley before beginning her teaching career.

Q: What is the secret of your longevity?

A: Heaven only knows. I smoked cigarettes at one time. When I went to college I wanted to do everything, and I smoked when I was a teacher; but I never smoked during the daytime around school; I didn't think it was right.

Q: You haven't lost your Southern drawl.

A: I don't understand that. I really don't understand that. I do not hear it.

Q: Did your students comment on it?

A: Oh yes, they teased me. They thought it was funny, funny, funny.

Q: Who is the African-American woman in the picture on your bookshelf?

A: That was Pearl. She cooked, and when she finished with dinner, she was my nurse in the afternoon. She had a husband who worked out in the fields. I liked Pearl very much.

Q: Did any of the slaves that worked on your great, grandfather's farm remain as workers after they were freed?

A: My father's sister, Clara, her cook was Aunt Frances; Aunt Frances had been a slave. Then there was an Aunt Susan that I heard mother talking about. Aunt Susan had been a slave. She lived in a little cabin back by the barn.

Q: Why were they referred to as aunts; were they related to your family?

A: No, that was a courtesy.

Q: You've said that when you were very young you believed the Bible sanctioned slavery. When did you change your mind?

A: When I went to college at Florida State, I had a wonderful sociology professor. He was a man from Massachusetts or New Hampshire. I began to change completely. My eyes have been opened.

Q: What is one of your proudest accomplishments?

A: I got my mother to vote for Al Smith. That the was first election she voted in. Of course, Al Smith was all the things we weren't. He was a Catholic for one thing and a Northerner.

Q: You've lived a long life; when were you the happiest?

A: When I retired in 1979. I made up my mind that the first year I wasn't going to do anything. I sat in my bedroom by the window and watched the quail come down off the hill. The best years of my life have been the years after I retired, complete freedom from all responsibility.